121. Identifying, Differentiating, and Labeling Emotions: A Meta-Analysis of the Association Among Intrapersonal Emotion Knowledge-Related Constructs

Intrapersonal emotion knowledge (EK; individuals’ abilities to identify, differentiate, and/or label their own feelings) has received growing attention due to its association with outcomes such as emotion regulation and decreased internalizing symptoms. Numerous constructs have been introduced to capture intrapersonal EK that are often used interchangeably, but the degree to which these constructs reflect the same phenomenon is unclear. The goal of this meta-analysis is to examine the extent to which intrapersonal EK-related constructs (i.e., emotional awareness, alexithymia, emotional clarity, emotion differentiation/granularity, affect labeling) are associated and whether they load onto a single latent factor. We also examine how attention to emotion, a likely precursor of intrapersonal EK, relates to EK constructs. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA protocol, leading to 96 studies and 160 effect sizes. We have completed extraction and coding of effect sizes and moderators (e.g., sample characteristics), and the analyses will be completed by July 2019. We will conduct a random-effects meta-analysis to estimate the correlations among all EK constructs, and the resulting meta-analytic correlation matrix will be submitted to confirmatory and (if needed) exploratory factor analyses. Publication bias will also be examined, and we will discuss theoretical and clinical implications of the findings.